Snowboarding has become extremely popular in recent times. Snowboarders generally adopt a stance with one foot in front of the other on a single board and ski using the single board. This activity has generated an entire subculture of enthusiasts and requires its own unique skills. For example, a snowboarder can place either his or her right or left foot forward on the board, can change stances or the like.
Generally, the forward foot is placed at an angle with respect to the longitudinal centerline of the snowboard during the snowboarding. Still further, most snowboarders like to have their feet as close to the snow as possible for reasons of control, comfort and the like. Still further, some snowboarders like to have their foot at one angle while others like to have their foot at another angle, and some snowboarders actually like to change the angle depending on conditions associated with the activity.
As noted above, most snowboarding is carried out with one foot, preferably the lead foot, oriented at an angle with respect to the longitudinal centerline of the snowboard. While this is effective and efficient for snowboarding, it is not desirable under all circumstances. Specifically, it is not desirable when skateboarding or when riding a ski lift. Skateboarding is effected by removing one foot, such as the rear foot, from the snowboard, and using that removed foot to contact the snow and propel the snowboarder forward in a skating movement. As can be understood, if the foot remaining attached to the snowboard is at an angle with respect to the longitudinal skateboarding will be uncomfortable and awkward and may even place undue stress on the snowboarder's body.
Another problem with the angled orientation of the snowboarder's foot on the snowboard occurs when the snowboarder is riding a ski lift. The angled orientation of the board with respect to the wearer may cause the board to be at an angle with respect to the wearer when that wearer is riding the ski lift. This may cause the board to contact other equipment or to contact other skier's equipment, or to be located in an undesired position. This, in turn, may require the wearer to twist his or her foot into an uncomfortable position while on the lift to hold the snowboard straight. Given the weight and length of the snowboard, holding the snowboard straight via twisting the foot or leg is very stressful to the body.
Some snowboarders actually remove their snowboards when moving across level ground or when riding a ski lift. This is cumbersome. It is also undesirable when the snowboarder demounts the ski lift as he or she must move out of line to replace the snowboard. Holding the snowboard while riding the lift is a potential hazard for skier's below the lift path.
Still further, requiring the snowboarder to maintain his or her foot attached to a snowboard at an angle may be undesirable if the snowboarder wishes to alter his or her snowboarding style or technique during a snowboarding activity. Such altered style or technique may be required or desired due to changed snow conditions, changed slope conditions. The snowboarder may wish to change his or her speed of snowboarding, or even to change his or her style altogether, or to change the amount of control exerted over the activity.
In some conditions, the snowboarder may want to alter the angular orientation of his or her feet with respect to the snowboard to effect a change in style or the like. He or she may even want to switch his or her lead foot. He or she may even want both feet to be at an angle with respect to the snowboard longitudinal centerline.
The difference in styles and desires of snowboarders is most evident in the rental market. One snowboarder may have a preferred position and orientation with respect to the snowboard for a given condition, and skill level, while another snowboarder may have an entirely different position and orientation for the same condition. Therefore, rental snowboards must be changed to suit the renter.
In the past, snowboards have required that the snowboarder's foot be released from the snowboard to effect any significant change in angular orientation of the foot with respect to the longitudinal centerline of the snowboard. The change is effected by removing the snowboarder's foot, loosening fasteners and removing anchoring means which attaches bindings to the snowboard, re-orienting the anchoring means, and re-attaching the fasteners to the snowboard, then re-attaching the snowboarder's foot to the anchoring means.
This procedure has several drawbacks which has inhibited both the overall popularity of the sport and the commercial market portion thereof. The procedure is often cumbersome and onerous and may not be easily carried out during a snowboarding activity. For example, a change from a snowboarding activity to a ski lift riding activity is not easily effected, nor is the reverse change from the orientation desired for riding the ski lift to the orientation desired to snowboard. Certainly, changing style or conditions are not easily accounted for if the snowboarder must stop and remove his or her foot from the board to effect the change in orientation of the foot with respect to the board. Not only is this inconvenient, it may even create a dangerous situation if the snowboarder cannot easily change his or her style, or foot orientation to meet changed conditions or the like. The removal of the snowboarder's foot from the board to effect a significant re-orientation of the foot with respect to the board may even require the use of tools, such as screwdrivers or the like. This is not desirable for many reasons, including the need to carry extra equipment. Still further, loosening and tightening of fasteners such as screws and bolts may cause these fasteners to strip threads and thereby become loose. This, at best, merely damages and degrades equipment, and at worst, may even create a dangerous condition if stripped threads are unknown to the snowboarder. Rental boards are particularly subject to degradation of equipment as they will nearly always be reconfigured for each renter.
Still further, a requirement that the user's foot be removed from the board to reorient the foot creates the condition where, once attached to the board, the user's foot may be inadvertently disconnected from the board.
Experienced snowboarders generally prefer to have their feet as close to the plane of the snow as possible whereby the most control and "feel" can be realized. Skis generally have the bottom of the skier's boot placed directly on the upper surface of the ski so this control can be effected. However, the present inventor is not aware of any snowboards that permit the snowboarder to have the bottom plane of his foot as close to the plane of the snow as possible, i.e., nearly directly on top of the top surface of the snowboard, while also permitting easy and efficient reorientation of that foot with respect to the snowboard as above discussed.
If a snowboarder selects a certain orientation of his foot with respect to the snowboard for a given condition, and that condition arises again at a later time, the snowboarder should have the ability to accurately select that same orientation and still maintain confidence that the reaction of the snowboard will repeat the reaction experienced the previous time the orientation was selected. However, to the inventor's knowledge, no presently existing snowboard provides this repeatability feature in conjunction with the ability to accurately "feel" the snow and to quickly and efficiently change foot orientations. Such repeatability could be important for safety as the snowboarder may expect certain actions and reactions for the snowboard that result from a particular orientation of his foot on the board; if that orientation is not as precise as expected, the actions and reactions may differ enough in some conditions to raise a safety problem.
Therefore, there is a need for a binding for attaching a snowboarder's foot to a snowboard in a manner which permits significant reorientation of one or both of the user's feet with respect to the board without requiring the user's foot to be detached from the board whereby such reorientation can be effected quickly and easily without the need for tools and without the need for the snowboarder to stop a current activity for a great length of time. This binding should also permit the snowboarder to keep his or her foot attached to the snowboard when desired, and permit the snowboarder to keep his or her foot in a position with respect to both the board and the snow that is most desired and to have this foot position be repeatable with a high degree of confidence. There is a further need for a snowboard binding that permits the aforediscussed reorientation while positioning the snowboarder's foot as close to the plane of the snow as possible.